Prominent Hada

[johnb]

I have recently sold this sword and the buyer is very worried that it has been treated with acid to bring out the hada. Although the really prominant hada may lead one to that conclusion, I really can't see any tell tale signs that is has. In fact, work with a finger stone makes the hada even more prominent. I also have another showa sword that exibits the very same charecteristics, although the hada is not quite as prominent as this one. There is an Amahide at this link http://www.nihontoantiques.com/fss188.htm that is also remarkably similar. I've also shown it to a couple of guys in Aus that a pretty knowledgeable, they also doub't any acid treatment. It's pretty scratched but the blade shows no signs of any nioi or nie which I was thre whole point of treating the sword with acid. By the way, nor does the other showa blade I have with a similar forging style.

Any help would be appreciated. THE SECOND PICTURE IS THE AMAHIDE IN THE LINK ABOVE.

 

JohnB

[nagamaki - Franco]

My first experience seeing a sword with the same "finish" was years ago, and this sword when presented to shinsa on two separate occassions, once with the late Yoshikawa sensei, bounced both times. It came to my attention that it had been acid treated, and it too lacked nie and nioi.

[Stephen]

and it too lacked nie and nioi

 

as does the third pix down, it looks like a (made somewhere else) repo imho

[Brian]

Just my humble opionion...

It does look like it had acid used to bring out the hada. This doesn't look like a stone polish. Note that acid is used to bring out hada and hamon...not nie and nioi. In fact it obscures ni and nioi occasionally.

However I do think this is genuine, and the name Amahide does seem to come up every time we see this prominent hada. It seems to me from the recent posts with this type of hada, that some smiths (Amahide and others) might have used a different steel and/or forging technique that made the hada and hataraki appear different to the ones we are used to.

Possibly a hybrid type of polish used back then, or the type of steel/forging led to this characteristic? I am not sure how this sword would be classified..and whether it was oil or water tempered. I do think a traditional polish would be much more subdued though.

 

Brian